TTU's Goodreads: 08-03-13

It was once asserted that there were two ways of avoiding getting your head kicked in on the way to a football match. One, carry a loaf of bread, thus creating the impression that you were a harmless local. Two, wear a QPR shirt — because nobody dislikes them. How things change:

Ian King’s latest essay for Two Hundred Percent neatly summarises why, in most people’s estimation, Queen’s Park Rangers now represent ‘everything that is wrong with football’ — and there’s no mention at all of a certain manager whose track record of leading clubs to the wall is unparalleled.

Scott Johnston’s site has been a key player on the football blogging circuit for some time now. Full of interesting pieces dealing with Scotland and beyond, this video featuring St. Mirren goalkeeper Chris Smith provides a revealing insight into a professional footballer’s management of soccer and diabetes. Medical advances since the 70s and 80s makes this less of a headline story than when Danny McGrain and Gary Mabbutt were forced to cope with the disease but Scott’s presentation is a salutary reminder of the challenges.

If there is one frustrating characteristic of online football writing, the sheer recentness of the collective memory has to be it. Given the internet was only properly founded twenty years ago or so, articles that hark back to a much earlier era are rare. Hence, it’s a pleasure when someone takes the time to dig deeper into the sport’s past — and Chris Oakley’s paean to football cards of the 1930s is just such a gem.